I-Coffee roasting experiences

[Captain_Starfish]

Six months since purchase. I'm roasting 250g of (usually) Yirgacheffe, Costa Rica San Juanillo or PNG Organic AX. Roast times have been consistently in the 20-22 minute range, which compared to other reports seems quite long.

Last weekend I went the usual 6min, reset, 12min, reset, 2-3min and the beens were still pretty much green (or that very light tan that comes next). Damn.

I tried emailing Sorrentina but either Jack's not responding or I got spam binned, so will try here.

Tried again today. Two batches, one took 25min and only got to CS9, the other one's been going for half an hour and about the same.

Glass dome is hot, but not so hot I can't leave my hand on it.

Jack, if you see this, can you please check your spam folder: sent my request for assistance to sales@sorrentinacoffee.com

Getting kinda sick of baked tasting coffee and having to run back and forth to reset the bloody thing every 5 minutes.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Six months since purchase. I'm roasting 250g of (usually) Yirgacheffe, Costa Rica San Juanillo or PNG Organic AX. Roast times have been consistently in the 20-22 minute range, which compared to other reports seems quite long.

Last weekend I went the usual 6min, reset, 12min, reset, 2-3min and the beens were still pretty much green (or that very light tan that comes next). Damn.

Have you checked that the screws that hold the agitator/paddle thingy have not come slightly loose, and therefore stopping the roasting chamber from properly contacting the base plate?
Cheers
BOSW

[Captain_Starfish]

Checked. There was the tiniest bit of play there, I'm extremely doubtful that it will make a difference. But I'll run another roast now and see. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Captain_Starfish]

Nup. 150g this time, 20 min to S2C.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Nup. 150g this time, 20 min to S2C.

Any chance something is making the safety switch disengage (the thing that the chaff collector depresses when everything is correctly inserted and the lid closed?

[Captain_Starfish]

None. As the base plate heats up it expands and locks the chaff ring in place - when I shut down at roast end I need to leave it a minute to cool before I can pull the chaff collector.

Besides, the interlock driven by that pin also shuts down the agitator drive but the stirring never stops through the roast.

[MrB]

Captain_Starfish - I'm having similar issues with my icoffee. It doesn't seem to be getting hot enough (ie can touch glass without burning myself as would previously happen!), and the beans don't crack, though they will go brown after ~25 mins and multiple timer resets. The resulting roast also looks and tasted pretty shitty compared to the icoffee's normal end result - more like popper coffee.

I spoke to Jack about it a couple of weeks ago and he suggested it could be due to the chaff collector deforming due to heat stress, resulting in a poor contact between the hotplate and the bottom of the bean pot. (when i checked the chaff collector does seem to sit higher on one side of the hotplate than the other). Jack sent out a replacement collector to hopefully resolve the problem, though i haven't received/tested it yet to confirm that is the issue.

[Captain_Starfish]

Thanks MrB: hopefully Jack will find the email or this thread again and get in touch.

[Captain_Starfish]

And he did. Just my luck to have issues the one week of the year Jack decides to catch the flu AND have his computers blow up.

Had a great chat with Jack today, extremely helpful advice from a true gentleman.

I have a few things I need to look at now with hopefully a fix-at-home rather than shipping it across the country and back.

Awesome work!

[malliemcg]

Captain_Starfish - are you able to share (here or via PM) some of the things to try?

I'm currently having a few issues with mine getting hot enough (no stopping) to complete a roast at present, hoping to have a few things to look without hassling Jack too much over the break.

[sorrentina]

Hello there everybody.

first things first: a BIG sorry to everyone that I have not been active on this thread for a while. I have had a very busy and difficult year last year and my customer service levels were regrettably impacted... I am very sorry for that.

Some I-Coffee owners have had unfortunate issues with the I-Coffee roaster: machines either randomly stopping mid roast- or declining roast temperatures over time. These issues seem to affect units randomly- but all the units are from one shipment of roasters from early last year. Machines from previous shipments have operated without fault for many years and hundreds of roasts.

CRK have had trouble identifying the problems in that shipment- they believe the random stoppage issue was related to a faulty batch of capacitors. Several units were returned only to annoyingly start working properly again on the way... Rather than tweaking the old model they have instead manufactured a totally new model of the I-Coffee roaster which will soon be ready to ship. It has several key improvements and they claim to have fully resolved the issues encountered with the previous model- changing the electronics of the machine extensively. Externally it looks the same except for the control dial parts. The new model works best when the beans are cooled externally using the bean cooler accessory or your own home bean cooler ( as simple as two colanders- there are many options). I am hoping to get one of these machines very soon to start testing it- and for the next shipment to arrive in February. I will be able to replace all faulty units at that time.

Notably the new model will have an LED roast timer display- and also adjustable roast temperature! So this sounds very exciting- it's just what many customers asked for. I am still waiting for the full details.

Can I ask anyone who is reading this thread who has had issues with their roaster please send me an email via the contact links on CS? I will also offer out of warranty customers- and customers who's machines have been faultless significant discounts (based on their situation) on the new model if they decide to upgrade.

[LionelHutz]

Thanks for the update Jack, the new model sounds great. Trust my luck to buy one just before they introduce a new one. Now I know how iPad owners must feel.

I have had no problems with my machine so far - but I was just wondering, when you say the issue was with a shipment from early last year, does that shipment comprise all the units you sold in 2012? I bought mine in December, was that still from the affected shipment or were you onto the next shipment by then?

I've roasted a couple of batches now and I couldn't be happier with this machine. I wanted a machine I could use indoors without smoke or chaff and with a minimum of fiddling around or guesswork. With the icoffee I just put the beans in, turn it on, wander away for 10 minutes, come back and listen to first crack, keep and eye on the colour and pull the beans out when they are the right shade of dark brown. Could not be simpler. Love it.

[micktleyden]

I-Coffee roasting experiences

Thanks for the update Jack, looking forward to the new model!

For what it is worth like some of the others in this thread I have had a couple of probs with my once awesome iCoffee, but Jack has provided sensational service and has been an absolute pleasure to deal with. If you are in the market for an iCoffee, I would absolutely recommend buying from Sorrentina.

[LionelHutz]

I've taken to cooling the beans by just dumping them in the bean cooler. I have a sieve I could sit on top of it but I just figured I'd put them straight into the cooler. The cooler fits 150 grams nicely, although probably not much more than that. When they are cool I just switch off the cooler and tip the contents into a colander.

Now the manual says not to do this, but I have always had a cavalier approach to manuals. Is there any downside to this? I guess potentially oil off the beans could be a problem? I don't roast too dark though and haven't noticed any oil on the cooler after use.

[sorrentina]

Hello Lionel,

did you roaster have a plastic tab where you close the latch on the glass dome- or was it wood? If it was wood then it came from an earlier perfect shipment. I have one of these myself and it is still roasting strong after 4 years nearly... I had a few of these left over and think I may have shipped you one of them in December from Memory? If it is plastic then it could have been from the affected shipment: however the majority of machines from that shipment had no problems at all. Only maybe 20% seem to have been affected. I will stand by your machine if anything happens down the track: until then I am touching wood and praying for many happy roasts for you and yours!

Regarding dumping the beans direct into the cooler: I don't think there will be an issue. I do this myself- only I riveted a strip of metal into a tube the diamter of the cooler circle so I have walls on mine and can cool more than 150 grams (you can't fit much more than that). One advantage of my metal 'chimney' is that it helps drw heat from the beans even quicker. It gets very hot as soon as they go in and dissipates the heat well.

I think if you could find a tin can (maybe peaches) of the right size- you could take both ends of with a can opener and have a very fine chimney.

CRK Korea have added a new basket to hold the beans over the cooler- it is very nice and I hope to have some of these available as an accessory - though they are a little pricey.

If you have a problem roaster and have not contacted me already please do so-